Pronatal versus Antenatal Policies
A pronatal policy is defined as a governmental policy which encourages the birth of children in countries. The opposite of this is an antenatal policy. Such policies prohibit or greatly discourage mothers to become impregnated with children. In the video and articles, it was stated that different countries and nations are encouraging their civilians to fecundate and increase the population for several reasons. The main reason is that the government foresaw an economic crisis, or “apocalypse” according to Beatrice Lorenzin.
Although the population was decreasing is a positive effect, this caused the current workforce to have little or no citizens to replace them. Another reason is that the elderly civilians would not have anyone to serve to care for them physically, mentally, or emotionally as the people would struggle to support their small families.
In Italy, the government instituted an action in which money is given in the form of a ‘baby bonus’. It is awarded to parents when they have children, encouraging women to give birth. If the population in Italy had been decreasing at the rate that it had it would have decreased by 40% by 2020 then it had in 2010. Low to middle-income families are given up to $90 a month as a baby bonus. The allowances are unfortunately only available until the last day of December 2017. Families who make more than 25,000 Euros per year are not eligible for this program. This facet excludes approximately 33% of Italian parents. Higher allowance rates are allotted to the poorer members of the Italian Society. These members give less than 7000 Euros per year to the taxmen. These members are able to gain from 240 Euros per month up to 400 euros per month depending on their income salary. All of the new programs and proposals had added approximately 2.2 billion euros to public spending over the next 6 years estimated by the department at which she works in the Italian government.
In the country of China, it is a unique situation. The population of the country of China has been quickly decreasing due to the one-child policy in the late 1970s. Lately, to replace the decreased population of China, the Chinese government has replaced the policy with a two-child-policy, allowing for the population to be evened out and stabilized. In Singapore, the population had increased and decreased uncontrollably, causing the government to begin several programs, including the ‘Stop At Two’, the ‘Have Three Or More Children If You Can Afford It’ and the ‘Love Boat’ campaigns.
In the large country of Russia, several policies with the aim to increase population have been instituted. One program is available to the citizens who live close to the city, called the ‘Give Birth To A Patriot’ and prizes parents with cars and other such possessions when they give birth to children. In other parts of the country, civilians are rewarded up to ₽782,692.30, or $13,000 when a child is born to them. Unfortunately, the population has decreased still due to alcoholism and other factors.
In Japan, a very steep population decline has been seen. The rapidly aging population does not have a replacing workforce. When the measure that was taken to prevent this was a government-backed speed dating sessions and new support for fathers to take paternity leave. A smaller amount of children being born results in a unique educational system. Yosuke Iwai is the only pupil in his grade, this provides a different educational system for him as he is alone in his academic efforts. He has no peers at his side. Many group program such as sports teams and academic programs are not available because of the lack of students. Many of the residents of the small village leave to find better jobs in the bigger agglomerations. People who are left behind are elderly and there is no one available to care for them. Many jobs are lost as fewer babies are born and fewer civilians reside in the villages. Eventually, as more residents leave the village, it will become a ghost town. The main issue is that most Japanese citizens do not believe that it is a relevant issue. Arima believes that the government needs to support the civilians in their effort to repopulate, and not deplete the population to extinction. Because of the strict immigration processes imposed on the civilians by the Japanese government, the organizations and workforces are depleted to where the nation is not able to sustain itself. Without more people, the Japanese turn to technology to assist them. Many types of robots and autonomous machines assist in the healthcare and mobility of the elder citizens who do not have access to medical healthcare.
In Germany, being a parent pays money. The government has spent millions and millions of dollars on family subsidies, which provide parents who quit their jobs after the birth of a child. Parents receive up to $25,000 per year. Despite these measures taken by the German government, the population remains relatively stable. Young immigrants from Syria and other places in the Middle Eastern subcontinent have also helped to increase and stabilize the population of Germany.
Therefore, the pronatal and antenatal policies that are being forced upon the citizens of different countries are greatly influential to the population increase and decrease. These factors play a large part in the developmental value of individual countries.
